Documents reveal additional
monkey care incidents at Harvard

Please contact Elizabeth Goldentyer to demand that Harvard Medical
School receive the largest fine possible under the Animal Welfare Act
for the negligence which caused injuries to several monkeys and one
human.

Federal documents obtained by an animal activist group reveal previously
undisclosed animal care issues within Harvard Medical School’s troubled
primate research operations, including an incident in June 2012 when a
rhesus monkey escaped from its cage, suffered cuts to its hand and
tongue, injured another monkey’s hand, and bit an employee.

After a series of high-profile monkey deaths at Harvard Medical School’s
New England Primate Research Center in Southborough, operations and
animal care seemed to have gotten much better at the center, which is
slated to wind down operations by 2015. Last month, Harvard was fined
$24,036 for 11 violations of the Animal Welfare Act noted by inspectors
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture between February 2011 and July
of 2012, but the institution’s animal care record after that period was
nearly spotless, according to subsequent inspection reports. Harvard
Medical School has primate research facilities in Southborough and on
its Longwood campus.

The new documents, correspondence between Harvard Medical School
officials and the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory
Animal Welfare, detail two issues related to animal welfare that appear
to be similar to previous incidents for which the university was cited
and fined. The documents were obtained through the Freedom of
Information Act by Michael Budkie, executive director of the animal
activist group Stop Animal Exploitation Now.

In addition to the monkey that escaped its cage and injured itself,
another monkey, and an employee in June 2012, a February 2013 letter
details an incident at an unspecified Harvard primate facility during
which a marmoset’s leg was fractured when its leg became stuck between
the bars of its cage.

Similar incidents that occurred at Harvard’s primate facilities have
occurred in the past and have resulted in citations and fines. For
example, a squirrel monkey’s leg fracture was reported in January 2012
at the Southborough center. That violation was included in the list of
infractions that resulted in the $24,000 fine, as were two incidents
that involved primates escaping from their cages at Harvard animal
research facilities.

“We self-reported these issues to all appropriate regulatory agencies
after carefully reviewing our reporting practices, and then worked with
them to address the issues in order to ensure the welfare and ethical
treatment of all animals within our care,” Harvard Medical School said
in a statement.

The injured rhesus monkey is described in detail in a letter written by
Richard Mills, Harvard’s former executive dean for administration, who
this summer left for a job at Dartmouth College. First, a catching net
was used to try and capture the escaped monkey, which was then trapped
behind a cage. An animal care employee put on gloves to catch the
animal, but after he removed one glove, the animal bit his hand.
Examination of the animal showed injuries to its hand and tongue.

“Two lacerations on the left hand that were sutured, a laceration to its
tongue that was also sutured, an injury to the distal phalanx of the
fourth right finger that was treated, and two broken metacarpals that
were reduced and splinted,” the letter states. Another monkey’s hand was
injured, as well.

Although the cage’s lock was deemed appropriately closed, the letter
said the positioning of the lock allowed it to become disengaged, and
policy changes were immediately made to prevent future incidents.

Budkie, the animal activist, said that the problems raise the question
of whether the improvements to Harvard’s animal care process had been
sufficient.

“In light of the fact that Harvard is a repeat offender with a
significant history of Animal Welfare Act violations which have had
serious consequences for animals including death and traumatic injuries,
I must insist that at the completion of your investigation into these
incidents you levy the largest fine allowable under the Animal Welfare
Act against Harvard, or $10,000 per non-compliance,” Budkie wrote in a
letter of complaint to the Agriculture Department.